


Tangled Up in Your Web of Secrets

by freckledboiyamaguchi



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Spider-Man Fusion, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Fluff, M/M, tsukishima kei is a low-key fan lol, tsukishima kei is a spider-man hater, yamaguchi tadashi as spider-man
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:40:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 18,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22228030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freckledboiyamaguchi/pseuds/freckledboiyamaguchi
Summary: Yamaguchi has always had a liking towards the friendly neighborhood hero, Spider-Man. Tsukishima never understood why, he's just another guy in a spandex suit.Or, Yamaguchi is secretly Spider-Man and Tsukishima has a low-key crush on the said hero.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 107
Kudos: 391





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi~ ヾ(＠⌒▽⌒＠)ﾉ
> 
> I posted this as a thread on Twitter but it flopped so I guess I'm doing a full-blown chaptered fic instead now. Hope you guys liked it!

_Welcome to Miyagi News. Here’s our headline for tonight: Spider-Man saves the day once again as a two men tried to steal a car near Sendai station earlier this morning--_

Yamaguchi hides a smile as he overhears the rest of the news from the TV by the store counter. Next to him, he hears a snort.

“Anybody could’ve done that if somebody just reported it to the authorities nearby,” Tsukishima says as he picks up a snack from the shelf, mocking look on his face. “It’s right next to the station, there’s a lot of police around there.”

“Well, nobody did anything _besides_ Spider-Man.” Yamaguchi replies, little pout on his lips now. Of course, Tsukki would be the one to criticize Spider-Man. Give it to his best friend to downplay anything and make it seem lame, even if it was something heroic.

Tsukishima rolls his eyes. “Sorry, _Spider-Man Defense Squad_. I didn’t mean to step on your fave hero’s act of kindness and public service.”

“What--, stop that! He’s no public servant!”

“How do you know he’s not some mascot the government paid as a distraction from all other things that’s going on within the city?”

“How do you even know there’s something else going on within the city?!”

“I don’t, but if they paid a clown in a spandex suit to swing around town then maybe there is something going on,”

Yamaguchi’s mouth opens for another retort but Coach Ukai comes around the corner holding a box of groceries and a cigarette on his lips. “Keep it down, boys. I can’t hear the rest of the news.”

They bow their heads in apology and Tsukishima returns to picking more snacks. Yamaguchi sighs next to him and grabs a handful of cereal bars then heads to the counter.

“I don’t know how to thank Spider-Man enough for this,” a teary-eyed old man said from the TV. Yamaguchi remembers him, he’s the owner of the car. “He really helped me out, I didn’t know what I would’ve done if he didn’t help me get my car back. Thank you, Spider-Man!”

Yamaguchi couldn’t help the smile on his face.

“Why did you only get cereal bars? We’re gonna stay up later than usual you know, we’ve got 3 exams tomorrow.” Tsukishima eyes the small plastic bag in his best friend’s hand.

“Yeah, about that,” Yamaguchi lets out a sheepish smile and scratches his head. “I can’t stay over tonight.”

Tsukishima stops in his tracks for a good second, surprise written on his face before it molds back to an annoyed expression. Yamaguchi doesn’t know if he’s lucky to be the one causing such expressions on his usual stoic friend.

“Why?”

Yamaguchi shrugs. “I promised Shimada-san I’d help him around at the mart within the week. He had the place extended, so he’ll need to move stuff around so I volunteered. Also, I needed to repay him somehow for all the stuff he taught me.”

The green-haired boy laughs at his friend’s furrowed brows and pursed lips. 

“I won’t be there late. Of course I know I need to study,” this usually would’ve been enough for Tsukishima to drop the subject but he stays staring at Tadashi like he’s reading more to what he’s hearing. “I’ll call you if I need help with anything on the subjects.”

Kei blinks once, twice and sighs. They start walking again and Yamaguchi lets out a quiet sigh of relief. He’s never hidden anything from Tsukki before. _No, but I’m doing this for the greater good. That’s right, if Tsukki knew, he would understand._

“Why don’t you just come home at my place afterwards?” 

Tadashi turns his head towards Kei so fast, his spider reflexes jumped out. “What?”

Kei isn’t looking at him and Tadashi senses a warm aura around him. “I mean, my place is nearer within Shimada’s mart if you take the route to 5th street. Although, it is a little dark but I can go out and walk with you when you’re on your way.”

Somehow that warm sensation transfers to Tadashi and he smiles. He opens his mouth to say “okay” but he feels an odd sensation and he knows something’s up.

He looks up to Kei with the most teasing smile he can pull off paired with wiggling brows and says, “That’s _really_ sweet, Tsukki.”

Tsukishima frowns at him and looks down on him, his signature intimidating move that never really worked on Tadashi. “Shut up, Yamaguchi. I just don’t want you moping about failing any tests and having to sit out of training camp for supplementary exams like those two idiots!”

Tadashi laughs out loud, his body bending over but his head is scolding him to go. There’s trouble nearby and he needs to get there soon, he needs to end this bickering as much as he doesn’t want to.

When they reach the next street corner, Yamaguchi waves his best friend good bye and good night. Tsukishima reluctantly waves back, putting on his headphones and walking straight home.  
  
  


As soon as Tsukishima was out of sight, Tadashi makes a run towards an empty alley and puts his suit on.


	2. A Day in the Life of Spider-Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yamaguchi has his own Tony Stark.

By 8pm, Yamaguchi is sitting on top of Sendai station’s roof eating one of the cereal bars he bought at the Sakanoshita’s store. The night wasn’t so bad, the trouble he sensed earlier was a two-man robbery from 3 streets away. It was from a small convenience store and the two robbers weren’t the best runners.

Tadashi only had to web their legs and they tumbled down immediately. He gave the money back to the store and shook hands with the owner, nice and fast before the cops arrived. 

He didn’t like getting involved in all the police stuff. All he knew was that to get the bad guys and make sure no one got hurt. After all, he wasn’t aiming to be the greatest hero. He just wanted Miyagi to be safe, for his friends and family’s sake.

_“Anybody could’ve done that if somebody just reported it to the authorities nearby,”_

Tsukki was right about that. But nobody has ever stood up for any of it, he knows. He knows Miyagi isn’t as bad as Tokyo, there’s a whole bunch of other shit going on in there compared to his hometown. But it’s the little things that Tadashi wants to make a difference on.

He knew what it was like when no one stood up for him. At least, until Tsukki came along. When he realized how much of an effect his best friend had on him, he promised himself he’d do the same for others as well.

Although, he wasn’t able to until he acquired his spider abilities. So now, he’s doing the best he can.  
  


When he was about to stand and swing, his phone vibrates from his bag and he pulls it out.

**Tsukki** : _Are you done @ shimada’s?_

**Tsukki** : _careful on your way home_

**Tsukki** : _oh well, i guess ur spiderman can sense if u were in trouble_

Yamaguchi snorts and sits back down.

**Yamaguchi** : _of course he can, he has super sense!!! ٩(^‿^)۶_

**Tsukki** : _his super sense doesn’t make any sense, it’s bullshit_

**Yamaguchi** : _it’s not!!!_

**Tsukki** : _whatever. u sure u’re not coming over? I can meet you halfway @ 5th st & we can walk home together _

**Yamaguchi** : _im good tsukki, thanks for the offer. Gotta go home and see mom tonight_

Tadashi doesn’t know what’s gotten Kei in to being persistent in staying over. He’s curious, but he’s not gonna ask. If Kei suddenly feels embarrassed about it, he’ll stop asking him to come over and Tadashi doesn’t want that. 

**Tsukki** : _you’re not mad abt what I said abt spiderman earlier, are you?_

Yamaguchi laughs so hard, he almost loses balance and fell from the station’s roof.  
  
  


“ _Hey, Spider-Man_ ,” he hears that familiar drawn out voice from inside his mask. It’s an awkward sensation, having to feel a voice so near yet he knows the person speaking is on the next region of the country. “ _How’s patrol going?_ ”

“Please don’t phrase it like that, Kenma-san.” Tadashi hears the chuckle from the other end and he has to refrain himself from rolling his eyes while swinging across streets. “Stopped a carnapping duo and a robbery incident today, and helped a cat stuck on a chimney too.”

“ _Great work_ ,” he hears a series of typing sounds. “ _How’s the suit?_ ”

“In good shape, don’t worry.”

“ _It better be or else I’m driving to Miyagi just to rip it out of your dead body,_ ” 

“You can’t drive, Kenma-san.”

“ _Kuro can. And he’s not gonna think twice to do so when I tell him you overused his webs just to swing around town and help cats get out of chimneys._ ”

Yamaguchi sighs and lands on his feet by the corner of his house. He looks around for any sign of people before pressing the icon on his suit, the fabric easily coming loose from his body.

“I can’t do much when there’s barely any trouble here in Miyagi,” he explains as he stuffs his suit inside his bag as fast as he can. He’s late for dinner. “Besides, some people only think I’m a clown in a spandex suit, paid by the government.”

“ _Where did you get that from?_ ”

“I heard it,”

“ _From who?_ ”

“From someone I just passed by, nobody.”

“ _From Tsukishima?_ ”

Tadashi finishes stuffing his suit in to his bag, leaves his mask on to continue talking to Kenma and leans against the wall behind him. “He doesn’t mean that, he just likes thinking logically. You can ask Kuroo-san, he’s always been like that.”

“ _I didn’t say anything, why are you defending him?_ ”

“I’m not-- _what_ ? That wasn’t _defending_ \--, I--”

“ _Maybe if you told him the truth, he wouldn’t be spewing bullshit against Spider-Man. He’s always been supportive of you and you only, he’s saying shit like that to the other you because he doesn’t know it’s you._ ”

Tadashi doesn’t know what to feel about that. But he knows, deep down, it’s true. Kei has always been by his side, encouraging him in everything that he does. Heck, he’s been very persistent of him to stay over just so he could make sure Tadashi can study and not fail the test tomorrow--

“Holy shit, the tests!”

He pulls his mask out of his face and stuffs it in his bag pocket and runs inside his house. His mother is already half-way into her plate of dinner when he runs upstairs to his room. His mother yells after him, asking why isn’t he staying at Kei-kun’s place tonight.

As soon as he’s opened his books, he receives a series of texts.

**Kenma-san** : _don’t cut me off like that!!! The static went directly to my headphones!!!_

**Kenma-san** : _next time you do that im electrocuting you within the suit_

Tadashi swallows. God, Kenma is terrifying.

His phone buzzes again and Tadashi feels relieved when he see it’s not from Kenma.

**Tsukki** : _hope u didn’t fall asleep, yamaguchi_

**Tsukki** : _those are 3 exams tomorrow_

**Tsukki** : _if u fail all those, u won’t be getting a ride from tanaka-san’s sister like those 2 idiots_

  
  


Tadashi laughs and sends him a selfie with all his notes and books out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't notice I posted this initially as a one-chapter fic ASDAJSFSDFLK sorry I'm still getting used to AO3 and I still don't know how to tag properly 
> 
> if you guys have any tips on how to properly tag works, hope you could let me know!!!


	3. Struck A Nerve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukishima notices Kuroo and Yamaguchi getting too close and he doesn't like it.

They lost at least 5 sets from the different teams they went up against today. It’s way less than when they first went to this training camp and Yamaguchi feels kind of proud. Especially now that he can see how much he’s actually contributed.

_ I guess all the training is paying off _ , he muses. He thanks his newly acquired abilities too, since his stamina seems to last longer than others and he gets to be in the court longer than he used to.

Out of the corner of his eye, he senses a ball coming right to him. He stops it right on time, catching it with both hands without flinching. 

He looks up and finds Tsukishima, Kuroo, Bokuto, Akaashi and Hinata standing in front of him. They all seemed to be running after the ball, that came from the third gym where they were doing some extra practice. They’re all staring at him, most of them with awed expression while Kuroo smirks from behind Tsukishima.

“Nice catch, Yamaguchi!” Hinata pipes up from behind everyone, snapping everyone from their shocked expressions.

“Yeah, nice catch, freckles-kun!” Bokuto follows and Akaashi reprimands him about calling the younger ‘freckles’.

“T-thanks,” Yamaguchi notices Kuroo’s smirk and flushes pink. His reflexes were too fast, he couldn’t control it. But hey, it’s better than having to receive the ball using his face. “Here you go,”

He hands Tsukishima the ball back and this signals the others to step back in to the gym. Tsukishima takes the ball and looks at him. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Yamaguchi answers quickly and notices Kuroo giving him a look. “Go back in now. Don’t stay out late, though. You still need to rest for tomorrow.”

“I know,” Tsukishima doesn’t meet his eyes and starts walking back to the gym. Kuroo stays behind with Yamaguchi for a while.

“You might wanna tone down using your spidey-senses on a normal day, hero-kun.” Kuroo pats his shoulder heavily, testing his strength. “I know you’re super strong and shit, but let’s not cheat on ordinary human beings when it comes to volleyball.”

“I-I wasn’t c-cheating…” Yamaguchi doesn’t dare look the elder in the eye and Kuroo chuckles.

“Here,” the black-haired third year thrusts a small bottle in to his hand. “You know what to do with that, right?”

Yamaguchi nods. “Thanks, Kuroo-san.”

“Anything for my willing test subject,” Kuroo pats him on the back this time and walks back to the gym.

  
  


When it got too late and they were close to getting kicked out of the third gym, Kuroo faces Tsukishima while collecting the volleyballs.

“Spit it out, Tsukki,” he places the last set of balls in to the basket. “Suppressing emotions isn’t healthy for growing teenagers, you know.”

“What?” Tsukishima looks annoyed more than the usual and Kuroo suppresses a laugh.

“You’ve been shooting daggers to my back ever since we came back to the gym,” Kuroo throws him a towel and the young blonde has the sense to look somewhat guilty. “If it’s me talking to your precious freckled friend, you’re overreacting.”

“Since when did the two of you have ever been close enough to pat backs and laugh together?” Tsukishima fixes his glasses on his face, refusing to look Kuroo in the eye. He’s suppressing the urge to sound more annoyed than he already is but the image of Kuroo being too familiar with Yamaguchi was something that both shocked and somehow irritated him.

“Is it that surprising?” Kuroo plays it cool. “Our teams have been playing against each other for months now, plus he’s yours and Shrimpy’s friend. Of course, I would’ve at least developed something with the guy.

Plus, he’s cute.”

Tsukishima faces him so fast and he’s met with Kuroo’s smirk. “Getting a little too possessive there, Tsukki.”

Kuroo receives a towel to his face and hears Tsukishima stomp out of the gym without a word.

“Struck a nerve again, Kuroo?” Bokuto raises his brows as he sees the young blonde walk out of the gym. “You might wanna tone it down with the kid, man.”

Kuroo snorts and Hinata runs out of the gym screaming, “Oi Stingy-shima! You didn’t thank our senpais properly after practice!”

  
  


As soon as Yamaguchi gets back to their shared room, he stuffs the vial of Kuroo’s web mixture into his bag. He’s gonna need to reproduce that as soon as they get back. Hopefully, nothing big happens in Miyagi while they’re in Saitama.

_ Who am I kidding, nothing ever happens there _ . And yet, he pulls up his phone and reads through news articles before falling asleep.

  
  


Tsukishima finds his best friend curled up in his sheets after he came back from shower. The green-haired boy still has his phone in his hand and he took upon himself to take it away. The screen flashes when he takes it and finds an article displaying on it.

_ Spider-Man Saves the Day Again _

Tsukishima snorts but the sound of someone waking up makes him hide beneath his own sheets. He continues to scroll down Yamaguchi’s phone, reading an article about how the hero stopped a robbery earlier that week. 

Ah, that news that went viral during their exams. He remembers watching the news about it and also hearing every single girl in class talked about it, saying how cool Spider-Man was. He doesn’t agree that much about him being cool, but he does acknowledge that the hero does have charisma that serves as a great combination to his acts of bravery and kindness.

At the bottom of the article was a CCTV footage of the incident.

Tsukishima takes one look at his best friend, making sure he’s asleep then proceeds to take his headphones out and watches the video.

The small store in 10th Street was target of the robbery. Two grown-ass men held up a knife to the store owner’s face and demanded the money on the counter. The old man gave everything and the two ran out with bags of cash in hand.

Before they reach the next street, Spider-Man comes swinging by and webs their legs together. They stumble down and the hero quickly grabs the bag of money from them. He webs their hands together too before jumping up and swinging back to the store to hand the cash back to the owner.

It’s a short video and yet Tsukishima spends the next 15-20 minutes replaying the jump and swing part.

_ Why does it look familiar? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone likes this chapter! We're just getting in to the plot here, but hopefully I get to build this up just right >w<
> 
> Hope everyone has a great day~ ＼（＾○＾）人（＾○＾）／


	4. Familiar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukishima tries to remember where he saw that move. Yamaguchi sorting out his priorities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suck at summaries and chapter titles ㅠㅠㅠ
> 
> Anyways, here's a "short" chapter with little to no action. Sorry! The next one should have a little development, I promise! I think I focused a lot on Tsukki and Yam's dynamic here.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this one <333

_ Was it the way his legs were angled? _

_ Was it the angle on the footage itself? _

But his body’s formation while swinging also looked familiar? Well,  _ somehow _ . It’s like Kei has seen it before.  _ But where? _ He’s been trying to remember but it’s been at least a week and he hasn’t come up with anything.

Maybe watching a bunch of compilation videos of Spider-Man doing swings and flips has messed with his analyzation. Maybe he’s mixed up the familiarity of the videos he’s watched all together and maybe that’s why he thinks he’s seen it before is because of all those videos he’s watched or maybe he's gone completely insane?

Probably. Maybe even definitely. Or, at least he’s getting there.

_ What the fuck. _

“Tsukki! Watch out!”

A ball is coming right towards him, and it’s only inches away and it’s coming real fast;  _ too  _ fast. He can’t even blink, his reflexes have shut down and he’s pretty much came in to terms with the fact that he’s gonna get a ball smacked in to his face and his glasses are gonna break right on his face and he’s gonna bleed so bad when it happens--

Then, a flash of ginger comes in to view. It was fast, just as fast as the ball coming towards him. But maybe even faster than that. The loud sound of flesh hitting the rubber on the ball came as a null sound to Tsukishima’s ears because  _ holy shit _ .

Hinata’s jump looked all too familiar.   
  


Kei had to sit out during practice after. Of course, he didn’t really got hurt. But, according to Daichi (and some little concerned opinion from Suga), he’s been spacing out lately which might be getting in the way of practice. He’s got a direct order to  _ pull himself together  _ before joining them.

Asahi has apologized to him at least three times in the course of an hour about the ball he had spiked and no matter how much Kei had tried to dismiss it, saying it wasn’t his fault, his soft senpai just can’t shake the guilt too easily. 

Kei’s gonna need Nishinoya’s help if the elder apologizes again.

“You doing okay there, Tsukishima?” Ennoshita sits next to him. The younger nods his head and fixes his glasses. Narita sits next to Ennoshita with a bottle of water for the latter. “That was a close one,”

Tsukishima sighs. “Yeah,”

“Have you thanked Hinata yet?” Narita chuckles. Tsukishima avoids his gaze. He’s been too busy observing the little Shrimpy’s jumps during the practice, he hasn’t even thought of actually thanking him.

“Man, I can’t imagine what would’ve happened if that ball hit your glasses,” Kinoshita walks in on them while stretching his arms above his head. “Good thing our mini Spider-Man came to the rescue.”

“Mini Spider-Man! Hahaha!” 

Yeah, good thing. He should be thankful. That ball hitting his face could’ve saved his brain from being damaged. Or, seeing Hinata do that jump might have messed with his head even more.

  
  
  
  


Lunch is almost over and Tsukishima glances at his phone. Yamaguchi isn’t back yet,  _ what’s taking him so long? _ His best friend had rushed off somewhere when the bell rang for lunch, saying something about forgetting something in the clubroom. 

15 minutes until the bell rings. Tsukishima stands up and decides to look for him. Whatever he’s looking for, he’ll need to look for it later. He’s not gonna skip class for it, Kei needs to make sure of that.

He sees that familiar cow-lick hair behind his locker in the clubroom.

When Tsukishima gets close enough, he finds the boy rummaging through his bag and notices how stressed out he is. What was he looking for?

“Class starts in 10 mins,” Yamaguchi jumps back and pushes his bag inside his locker in one swift motion. “I’m guessing you didn’t find what you were looking for?”

Yamaguchi glances at his bag inside his locker and swallows. “No. I m-must’ve left it at home.”

“What are you even looking for?”

The shorter boy scratches the back of his head. “M-my homework.”   
  


Yamaguchi Tadashi is such an idiot. He might be scoring tons of points being the amazing Spider-Man of Miyagi but he’s losing so much in being a high school student. He needs to sort out his priorities, damn it.

Well, it’s not like he can help it. He detected trouble by the end of their second class, it was trouble so close to school. He had to rush and get his suit from the clubroom but before he even gets the chance to open the zipper of his bag, he hears Tanaka and Nishinoya’s voices coming closer. 

In a state of panic, he grabbed his bag and swung out the window. 

He does need to give himself some credit for arriving right on time on the scene though. It was a group of junior high kids vandalizing a storefront right around the street behind Karasuno. When the owner caught them, the kids started going violent and was in the middle of thrashing the place. Spider-Man arrives and tangles the boys with his webs and helped out the old lady by sweeping the shards of glass off the street and inside the store with his webs.

The old lady gave him a hug and a bag of sweet lemon candies. People who were around clapped their hands at him, giving him the credit he deserves in helping out.

If only he could transfer that credit to his school grades.

  
  


“I’m not letting you copy my homework,” Tsukishima folds his arms in front of him. 

“ _ Please _ , Tsukki. Just this once,” Yamaguchi looks up to him with pleading eyes, his hands clasped together and he takes a few steps closer to the blonde. “I won’t do it again, I promise! It was an honest mistake!”

_ Yeah, honest mistake of leaving your bag opened by the alleyway right next to a group of cats who turned your homework in to cat litter. _

Tsukishima purses his lips. “No.”

“Okay, can I borrow your phone instead? I can still remember the answers but I need to find the link where I got them as reference.  _ Please _ ,”

The taller boy sighs and slips his phone onto the latter’s hand. “Fine. Make it quick, we’ve got less than 10 minutes to get to class,”

Yamaguchi doesn’t waste a second in grabbing his notebook and pen. He flops down on to the floor of the clubroom and starts to open tabs on his friend’s phone. Tsukishima emits a small smile at the boy, looking a little too cute for someone who’s stressed out.

At some point, Kei feels bad for him. He knows it was an accident, leaving his homework behind. But that doesn’t mean Tadashi gets a free pass and doesn’t get a taste of the consequences that mistake caused.

Tadashi tends to be too precious at some times. He makes Kei feel like he needs to be protected. And unconsciously, Kei does it. Although, he knows he needs to teach the other to be more independent. 

He’s not letting Tadashi be pushed around like before. 

  
  


When Tadashi taps the search box on Kei’s phone, the last searched item made him stop for a good three seconds.

_ Spider-Man _

Why is Tsukki looking up things about Spider-Man? He puts the thought aside for the meantime and continued with his homework. His grades are far more important than his best friend’s sudden curiosity over his secret identity. He guesses that isn’t much of a bad priority.


	5. The Kuroos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuro's parents come home and Kenma stays the night over.

A massive headache is about to come, Kenma knows it. How does he know, you might ask? Here’s a quick breakdown:

  1. Volleyball practice is exhausting as ever. Coach Nekomata is driving them nuts.
  2. The new game he ordered got delayed and hasn’t arrived yet.
  3. The Amazing Spider-Man of Miyagi’s vital signs have been erratic in the past couple of days and when Kenma asked what’s gotten him like that, Yamaguchi only says he doesn’t know and that he feels fine. Which translates to: there’s something up with the suit.



And finally:

4\. Kuroo Fucking Tetsurou isn’t answering his goddamn phone.

Kenma told him about his worry regarding the suit, asked the elder to come over at his place so they can call Yamaguchi and see if they can set a date to see each other and take a look at the suit. But it’s been  _ hours  _ since they got back from school and Kuro hasn’t stepped foot out of his house.

He’s about to call him when a text comes in.

**Kuro** :  _ abort mission, new plan _

**Ken** :  _ wth are you talking abt _

**Kuro** :  _ parents are home, they want to you over for dinner _

He groans and kicks his socked feet in the air. Guess that makes Headache list number 5.   
  


Don’t get him wrong, Kenma doesn’t necessarily dislike Kuro’s parents. The Kuroos are actually pretty cool: they’re scientists that work for the military government. They’ve been working on a project for the past couple of months which made them stay at a lab in the outskirts of Tokyo, leaving Tetsurou with the Kozumes.

You’ll never catch Kenma saying he doesn’t mind having Kuro around more often than usual.

When he steps into their living room, Kuro’s mom engulfs him in a quick tight hug. “I missed you, Kenma! How have you been?”

“Same as always,” he puts on a small smile. He likes Kuro’s mom, she’s warm but loud. Kind of like Kuro. “Glad to see you guys back.”

She smiles at him. Kenma blinks. 

“Well, I’m glad too. I missed my boys.”

  
  
  


Dinner was pretty much like the way it used to. It’s warm and a little too loud compared to the last few weeks of dinner with just him and Kuro in his huge house with just the two of them. It feels nice.

Kuro and his mom kept the conversation going, his dad would slide in a few smug comments and they never let Kenma feel left out. There’s not a minute of silence. Kenma would’ve been bothered if it were anyone else. But not with the Kuroo’s.

When the laughter dies down and there’s some dishes to clean, the two boys excuses themselves to go up Kuroo’s room. As soon as Kenma sees the bed, he flops down face first. There’s a smile on his face that he’s embarrassed to show, there’s also a warmth in his chest that feels heavy but he doesn’t know why.

The elder sits at the foot of the bed, placing Kenma’s legs on top of his own. They stay like that for a while and when the younger’s lungs get tired of not breathing properly, he lies on his back and sees Kuro staring into space.

He pokes his toes into his best friend’s stomach. Kuroo tickles his foot. They go back and forth with Kenma pulling his foot away from him and Kuro grabbing it.

Kenma’s giggles dies down when he notices Kuroo doesn’t share the same amount of fun he seems to be having. “What, did Bokuto’s emo phase rubbed on to you now?”

“What?” 

“You’re acting all mopey and shit,”

“Watch your mouth, brat.”

“It’s just the two of us here.”

“So? I’m still older than you,”

“You don’t care about that as much as me,”

“ _ Correction _ : only to you,”

“Whatever. What’s going on inside that big head of yours?”

Kuro purses his lips and grabs Kenma by the shoulders, he drags the both of them down the bed. Kenma struggles to get out of his grip, making a disgusted face at the elder. 

"Kuro--"

"That thing about Yamaguchi-kun's vital signs,"

Kenma stops struggling and sighs. "It's been going on for a week, at least. Sometimes his heart rate spikes, then it levels. His blood pressure comes off too low at times. It's concerning but Yamaguchi says he's fine, which I've come to the conclusion that maybe the sensors in the suit could be malfunctioning--"

"What if it's the serum?"

Kenma looks up at him. "What do you mean?"

Kuro swallows. "I was looking back at the formula I wrote down when I made the serum. If I made the calculations right, it's possible that the serum has worn out."

The younger frowns. "Does that mean he'll be losing his abilities? But he said he feels  _ fine- _ "

"You and I both know that freckles brat would do anything to not worry anybody about him,”

“Yamaguchi being too nice is being too difficult,” Kenma nods his head and unconsciously snuggles closer. Kuro adjusts his hold on him.

“So I was thinking,” Kuro takes a breath. “How about we give him more?”

Kenma doesn’t respond. This creates a doubt in Kuro’s head. “Well, if he still wants to of course. It’s his body, I know. We won’t be forcing him to take any if he doesn’t want to.”

“With Yamaguchi’s odd sense of justice,” the younger mutters beneath Kuro. “There’s a high chance he won’t be disagreeing to it.”

“Does that mean we can make him have more of the serum?”

Kenma probably sensed that tiny excitement in his statement as the younger pushes himself away from the elder’s chest. “Just don’t forget that your little test subject is a real life human. We can’t mess around with his body too much. What if we cause some other more dangerous mutation in him!?”

“I know, I know!” Kuro laughs. “I’m not looking in to being the cause of someone’s death or something. Besides, Yamaguchi’s basically a friend now. Also, I’m not very fond of the idea of getting killed by Tsukishima if he ever finds out what we did to his precious best friend.”

Kenma lies flat on his back, stares at the ceiling of Kuro’s room. It’s getting late, he needs to get home. But Kuro’s bed sheets feel nicer than what he has in his room. He turns to his side and sees Kuro staring at him. 

  
_ I’d do the same if someone did that to you, too _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> new pov from our kuroken!!! hope you guys liked this one lol
> 
> will try to update at least 2 chapters this weekend as I might get a little busy in the next 3 weeks :((( will make sure to get some action soon!!! 
> 
> comments are very very much appreciated!!! <333 (kudos too of course)


	6. Serum

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Miyagi's friendly-neighborhood Spider-Man came about.

  
  


It’s been roughly 6 months since Kuro developed the serum. It wasn’t a perfectly calculated creation, no. It wasn’t even what he intended to make in the first place. At first, he was aiming for a skin clad armor, kind of like what the characters in Kenma’s games have. It was a spur of the moment kind of idea, which was inspired by his parents’ research.

He had read about the research one night, when his father fell asleep on the living room couch and left his office wide open. The old man was exhausted from all the research he and his wife was working on for the past couple of months and passed out. Just as Tetsurou was about to close the door, the bright color of the blueprint sitting illuminated in the center of the room caught his attention.

Being the curious cat that he is, he went inside and took a glimpse of the blueprint. And one glimpse turned into reading at least 70% of the research the whole night. 

It was a research funded by the Ministry of Defense to help create some sort of “suit of armor” that all frontlining military personnel can wear in war. For what kind of war, it wasn’t detailed there. The stack of papers Tetsurou found focused on the development of the said armor. With the rough sketch of what seems to be the goal product, Tetsurou finds the resemblance of a bird.

It was all cleverly designed, and the young man was captivated with the idea. There was only one thing that didn’t sit well with what he’s read so far.  _ Creating the suit from materials that seemed way too heavy could cause a lot of strain to the subject that will be wearing it. _

And in a few weeks, he had thought up the perfect alternative:  _ why not have the qualities develop within the subject rather than to create an armor of the same qualities? _

_ Or maybe, develop one that has better qualities. _

  
  


It took him a month to develop a good enough formula to develop the serum. It was exhausting and yet, it didn’t compare to the sheer excitement of finally creating something on his own. Kuroo has always had the brains to create something like this, something  _ amazing _ . And yet, his parents had him live like any other high school kid. He isn’t exactly complaining, he has friends he can be a total nerd with and his volleyball team takes up more than half of his heart.

But nothing compares to being able to achieve something as amazing as  _ this _ .

The only problem by then was how he’s going to prove to his parents that this serum works. Once he proves the effectiveness of it, maybe he can score a part on the research. Maybe even just land an early scholarship for university.

  
  


In his excitement, he tells Kenma about it. However, Kenma doesn’t seem to be very fond of the idea back then.

“You want to test it on a human being?” the younger almost shouts. Kuro puts a finger up by his lips. At least Kenma had the decency to keep his voice down afterwards. “You’re insane. You’ll end up in jail if you inject that on somebody without their consent.”

“Well how am I supposed to know if it works?”

“I don’t know, test it on a lab rat or something.”

“I don’t wanna catch rats by the dumpster!”

“Then throw that shit away! That’s dangerous, Kuro. What if you kill someone with that?”

“I can assure you, this formula I came up with is non-toxic and has no percentage of any poison. I just need to know if there will be any chemical reactions to a human body.”

“No one is going to volunteer to drink a yellow weird smelling substance, Kuro.”

  
  
  


Maybe Kenma was right. Who would voluntarily want to drink a suspicious liquid that looked and smelled like deep-fry oil? Yamamoto, maybe. If he was dared and provoked enough, that is. But Kenma’s right. He can’t just experiment on human beings. What was he thinking? Kuro feels like his basic human morals and decency left him while he obsessed over his creation.

With his sudden awakening, he decides he’ll get rid of the serum.

  
  
  


He needed to know how to properly dispose of it. He can’t believe for months of working on perfecting that serum, never once had he thought of how he would get rid of it. He can’t just flush it down the toilet, it might mix with other chemicals and create some dangerous reaction. 

“Or, you could just pour it along the abandoned alleyways we pass by when going home?” Kenma doesn’t seem to share his worry in disposing of the serum. 

“What if those cats that you feed sometimes accidentally drink them?”

The younger purses his lips and presses harder on his phone. The character on his phone screen does an aggressive move and kills the beast. “Get that away from them,”

  
  


Kuroo decides, he’ll pour the serum on to soil instead. Worst case scenario of the serum being mixed with soil chemicals is the grass dying. And what better way to cover it up than pouring the serum on to the grass in Shinzen High School’s famous grassy hill.

When the next training camp comes around, Kuroo stores the serum in an insulated tumbler and waits for everyone in his team to fall asleep. He sneaks out the back and makes his way to the hill, insulated tumbler in hand.

The night was cold and Kuroo can hear the collective snores coming from the rooms where the other teams are obviously fast asleep. The hallway is dimly lit, his footsteps are light in fear of being caught walking in the middle of the night. Just as he was about to turn towards the stairs, he collides with a rushing figure. The other person loses his balance and was about to fall back into the flight of stairs but Kuroo was able to grab his hand while supporting the both of them from the railings.

Kuroo pulls the two of them out of the stairs and into the hallway. When the boy steps into the moonlit space, Kuroo recognizes those set of freckles and vulnerable eyes.

“Oi, Karasuno’s number 11,” Kuroo starts. “What are you doing running by the stairs in the middle of the night?”

“S-sorry,” the boy looks down and fiddles with his fingers. Kuroo remembers this boy being that bratty Tsukishima’s friend, the boy who calls the tall blonde that silly nickname. By the looks of this soft kid, how did he ended being friends with that snarky glasses guy?

“I was trying to get in a few more practice but I saw the school guard roaming and I didn’t wanna get in trouble so I ran back to the rooms but I didn’t see you by the sta--”

“It’s fine, kiddo.” The elder stops his spew of words. “I didn’t mean to interrogate you. Get some rest, we still got a whole set of games for tomorrow.”

“Okay,” the boy bends down to pick up his tumbler and hands Kuroo his own. He gives Kuroo a tight-lip smile before murmuring a quick, “Good night, Kuroo-san.”

  
  


The captain hurries down the stairs as from what freckles-kun said, there’s a school guard roaming around and Kuroo doesn’t really want to be seen pouring chemicals by the school grounds. As soon as he reaches the back door, he opens the tumbler in his hand and walks a few steps towards the bottom of the hill. 

He takes a deep breath, making up a speech in his head on how to say goodbye to his very first creation that will never see the light and starts pouring the contents unto the ground. The liquid flows out of the tumbler smoothly, it’s color a shade too dark even from the moonlit night. Kuroo takes a whiff out of the tumbler and doesn’t smell deep-fry oil.

_ Wait _ . His head starts rushing out thoughts and before he knows it, he downs the remaining liquid from the tumbler.

_ Sports drink? _

  
He flips the tumbler and finds at the very bottom a small scribble of a name.  _ Tadashi ⋆ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for no updates in the past month :(((
> 
> Got a bad sense of writer's block and zero motivation lately but I'm working on it. Hope you guys enjoyed this one!!! (◠﹏◠✿)
> 
> Let me know what you guys think about it too ^^


	7. Karasuno's Spiderman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karasuno's Volleyball team found Spiderman. Tsukishima doesn't agree.

A school bus had a faulty engine while carrying at least 15 students inside. Something within the gears sparked, causing smoke to emit from under it and blocking the view of all other cars behind it. The driver had to stop in the middle of an intersection in fear of explosion from within the bus and since the smoke it emits was too much, the family car behind it couldn’t see the stop signal from it’s tail lights.

Good thing Spider-Man was there in a matter of seconds. He swung right behind the traffic light and shot his webs on the family car. He pulled it right on time before colliding with the school bus. 

All the kids exited the bus and the mother and son in the family car weren’t hurt. Spider-Man left the scene before any officers could inspect what happened. 

And everything was recorded from the CCTV footage from the traffic light.

  
  
  


“That’s the most badass move!”

“I know! His swings are always so cool!”

“Yeah! He swings like he weighs nothing!”

Asahi shakes his head as he listens to Noya and Tanaka fuss over the same video they’ve been rewatching since this morning’s practice. “Haven’t you guys watched that like 10 times already?”

“Not really, just 8 times.” Noya comments off-handedly and starts to replay the video again.

Asahi and Suga share a look. 

“What’s the fuss about anyway?” Kageyama asks and the two second-years hurriedly pulls the boy with them and shows the video. In a matter of seconds, the team has crowded over to watch the video. Well, everyone except Yamaguchi and Tsukishima.

Yamaguchi feels his chest swell at the look of everyone’s faces. Each and everyone has stars in their eyes watching the video from the small screen on Tanaka’s phone. Is this how everyone in Miyagi feels about Spiderman? Does everyone have the same pride and amazement in their eyes whenever he does something to help others? Is this what they feel about him?

Oh, wait.

This is what they feel about Spiderman, not Tadashi. 

They’re the same person but not quite. 

And no one really knows about it. And no one is going to know. No one is going to suspect. Because who would think Yamaguchi could be anything else but an awkward ball of nerves on the court?

“That jump,” Kageyama pulls everyone’s attention to him. “That requires a lot of strength on the legs to pull off.”

“Ha?” Hinata tilts his head at him. “What do you mean? He flies like he has wings!”

“You can pull that off too, dumbass.” Kageyama states a-matter-of-factly. “And what do you mean he has wings? He’s a spider! He doesn’t have wings!”

The two continue with their mini quarrel for a good minute until Daichi coldly asks them to stop. The captain orders everyone to get back to practice and it’s back to reality. 

Until Kageyama does an incredibly high toss that Hinata jumps after.

Perfectly hitting the ball that’s at least 3 heads higher than the net. And everyone knew what Kageyama meant earlier.

  
  
  


It becomes an inside joke after that. 

Everyone calls Hinata the “secret Spiderman” or “Karasuno’s own Spiderman.”

A part of Tadashi feels somehow relieved. If people continue to think that Hinata is Spiderman, joke or not, there will be less suspicion on his end.  _ Not that there were any _ , he bitterly thinks.

And that’s the other part of him. The part that realizes that no one will ever think of him more than just another high school kid who’s into something that he’s not even good at. Probably the saddest realization of all, is how big the gap between Spiderman and Tadashi is so much visible now.

The hero and the blur. The 100 and the zero. The one and the nobody. 

  
  
  


“Here,”

Tadashi yelps in surprise when he feels an ice-cold drink being pushed onto his cheeks. “Tsukki!”

“What, you don’t want it? Go get a heat stroke then,”

The shorter boy just huffs and takes the drink from his friend. “Thanks,”

“You’re not coming over again?”

He avoids Kei’s eyes when he responds. “No, sorry.”

“Does Shimada-san even pay you? You sound like a part-timer at this point.”

“H-he does, of course.” Crap. He hasn’t coordinated his excuses in a while. “But it’s mostly volunteer work. Remember how I started it to pay back all the stuff he taught me?”

Kei snorts. “You sound like he’s the one who taught you how to play volleyball.”

“Well, not exactly. You know I started playing because of you--”

“Because you liked it, because you wanted to try out sports and volleyball happened to fit your preferences. It’s not about me, Yamaguchi. And it’s not about Shimada-san either. Yes, he taught you how to serve and that’s been the best weapon for you and for the team so far. But don’t give him all the credit. More than half of what you’re doing now is because of yourself, not because of anybody else.”

Tadashi is quiet. The cold drink in his hand makes his fingers go numb while the words from his best friend makes his heart so heavy and full. There’s something stuck in his throat, he doesn’t know if he wants to cry. Give it to his best friend to snap him out his internal turmoil.

Sometimes, Yamaguchi’s scared with how much Tsukishima can read him. 

But not this time, Tadashi thinks. He’s more thankful this time.

“C’mon, don’t you need to be at Shimada’s before night fall?”

  
  
  


“GO HOME!!!”

Yamaguchi cowers behind Tsukishima when Daichi screams at the top of his lungs. The captain is at the entrance of the gym, holding the door wide open and revealing Hinata and Kageyama inside who are still in their gym clothes and volleyball on their hands. 

“Guys, seriously. You need to take a rest before you use up all your energy for the next day.” Suga says more calmly and carefully removes Daichi away from the door. The two first years scramble to pick up all the balls they’ve used.

“You need to rest, Hinata.” Tanaka follows up. “How are you gonna save Miyagi from trouble when you’re exhausted from volleyball practice?”

Kinoshita snickers at the side. “Yeah, Spiderman! Go home and save your energy.”   
  
  


Kei has been quiet since they’ve started walking home. It’s not a rare thing considering how Tadashi does most of the talking. But the exhaustion from the practice and the trouble from earlier that he had to swing by has taken up all of Tadashi’s energy.

“You like Spiderman, right?”

“Huh?”

“You were like the very first person I know that liked that guy from the very start.”

_ Where is Tsukki going with this? _ “Well, he’s super cool, isn’t he? The first time he showed up on TV was really impressive, he stopped 4 guys--”

“You don’t think Hinata’s Spiderman, right?”

“What?"

Tsukishima fixes his glasses, that little gesture he does when he’s about to say something serious. “You’ve watched a bunch of his videos online, right? Surely you’ve noticed it.”

“Noticed what?” 

“His jumps. His jumps aren’t the same with Hinata’s.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAA IM SO SORRYYYYYYY
> 
> super mega late update :((( little to no action again but hopefully I could finally write something that's essential to the plot on the next update.
> 
> hope everybody is safe!!! stay healthy everyone~


	8. Worry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yamaguchi realizes something and loses something.

Yamaguchi should’ve seen this coming.

Tsukishima Kei is known for being observant. He’s been like that even when they were young, he’s basically developed it as a skill. Of course, he would notice. Him of all people.

_ Calm down, Tadashi. _ He tells himself.  _ It’s not like he found who Spiderman really is. _

Yes, yes. That’s right. Kei just crossed out Hinata as the potential real identity of the hero. He hasn’t pin-pointed anybody. He’s just checking facts. That’s just what he’s doing and it’s a very Tsukishima Kei move. 

Yes. No need to panic. 

His best friend is just checking facts. Facts that could lead him to the real Spiderman. Tadashi feels a shiver down his spine when he remembers the way Kei talked earlier on how he came up with that assumption against Hinata being Spiderman.

The blonde gave him a raised eyebrow. “You’ve seen his videos and Hinata’s jump everyday. The power they exert when preparing to jump, it’s different. Hinata’s jumps look more like jumping with springs on his legs while Spiderman uses more of his upper body to pull himself up rather than put pressure on his legs.”

Tadashi stared at him as soon as he said those. “Wow, Tsukki. Did you analyze Spiderman’s move?”

His best friend sputters for a few seconds. “Wha- No! I only compared the movement considering the whole ‘Hinata is Spiderman’ was getting a little annoying.”

The shorter male only gives out a small chuckle, hiding that sudden burst of nerves creeping on his skin. 

  
  
  


_ Should I just tell him? _

It’s better than being caught red-handed. That way, Tsukishima wouldn’t feel betrayed. After all, they’re best friends. They should know everything about each other. Tsukki never hid anything from him. Yamaguchi can’t keep things to himself. Plus, Kei can read him like a book.

They’ve always been like that.

Tadashi’s starting to ask himself why he even hid it from him in the first place.

“Where did you get that?” Tsukishima’s annoyed tone breaks his train of thought. Tadashi looks back at him from across the small table where all their notes are scattered. They’re in Kei’s room, studying for yet another exam.

“What?”

“That.” Kei uses the tip of his pen to lift the sleeve of Yamaguchi’s school uniform. A patch of his skin is blooming in purple. He frantically covers it up and laughs nervously.

“I hit a pole. Last night.” Not entirely a lie. He did hit a pole last night when he was swinging around town, trying to sense if there was trouble anywhere nearby. His grip on his web loosened and so he met with the nearby pole.

Kei’s eyes furrows. “What do you mean you hit a pole?”

“I… lifted a few boxes at the mart last night. It kinda tired me out so I walked into a pole on my way home.”

There’s a cold second that passes by in utter silence after he says this. And something in Kei snaps.

“What the hell?” the blonde slams his pen down the table. Tadashi flinches in surprise. “Why are you working your ass off so much? I mean, I get that you’re grateful for Shimada-san but this is getting too much. You’re over-exerting yourself! We practice at least 6 hours a day and you take additional 3 hours to help him out. I don’t understand why you’re doing so much for him but you can’t do enough for yourself.”

He finishes with a sigh of frustration.

Tadashi just sits there, hand covering that fresh bruise on his arm.

_ Ah, this is it. This is why I never told him. _ He realizes it now. 

Kei has somehow taken it upon himself to watch over Tadashi. Ever since they were kids, ever since that incident in the school grounds. He’s been trying to protect him, in the most subtle way that he can. 

He worries about Tadashi. He worries about him. And Tadashi doesn’t like it.

He’s not the same kid like before. No one can push him around anymore. He’s not gonna get beat up if he stands up for himself. And he  _ can  _ stand up for himself now. Even more so, he can stand up for others now. For others that are like him - like how he used to me.

He doesn’t need anyone worrying about him anymore. He doesn’t need Tsukki to worry about him. Not anymore. 

And telling him about Spiderman will surely make him worry more than he already is. 

“Stay here,” Kei whispers. He doesn’t look at Tadashi as he gets up and heads for the door.

He waits for him to get back. It takes him a while. He hears muffled voices from outside, he doesn’t quite hear them but it sounds like his mother is talking to him. 

His phone vibrates from inside his bag. He picks it up and sees a message from Kenma.

**Kenma-san** :  _ Are you busy? Call me. We need to discuss something. _

**Yamaguchi** :  _ I’m with Tsukki right now. I’ll call later. _

**Kenma-san** :  _ say hi to tsukki for me -kuroo _

**Kenma-san** :  _ Call me as soon as you can. _

He hears the door open and he hides his phone. Kei comes in with an ice pack in hand. He sits next to Yamaguchi and lifts the sleeve of his uniform without saying a word. They stay like that for a while, one of Kei’s hands on the ice pack while the other holds Tadashi’s arm steady.

All the while, Tadashi sits there quietly looking at his best friend.

The blonde has his focus on the bruise. His fingers unconsciously tracing comforting circles on Tadashi’s arm. It’s soothing and Tadashi feels a little guilt in thinking he’s being too self-centered in not wanting Tsukki to be worried about him.

“Tsukki,” he whispers. Kei takes a quick look at him and goes back to focusing on the ice pack. “I’m sorry.”

“Do better then,” he says coldly. “Stop exhausting yourself.”

Tadashi doesn’t respond.

  
  
  
  


“I’m sorry I raised my voice at you,” Kei says as he puts on his shoes. They’re at the doorway and Tadashi has just put on his own shoes, waving at Kei’s mom good night.

“It’s fine, Tsukki.”

Kei holds the door but doesn’t open it. Tadashi looks at him expectantly.

“Look, I’m sorry. But you don’t have to leave.”

Tadashi chuckles. “You think I’m leaving because I’m mad that you yelled at me? C’mon, Tsukki. I’m not that petty.”

“But it’s late. Why can’t you just stay over?”

“I can’t. I gotta make sure my mom isn’t overworking herself.”

“Well that sounds familiar.”

Tadashi rolls his eyes. “Open the door, Tsukki.”

Kei sighs. “Mom! I’ll walk Yamaguchi home, I’ll be back soon.”

His mom yells back with a loud, “Okay!”

  
  
  
  


“I’m not some scared 10-year-old that you need to walk home, Tsukki.”

Kei chuckles. “You used to hold on to my hoodie whenever we pass by this alley.”

“Yes.” Yamaguchi sighs in frustration. “In 3rd grade, Tsukki. That was  _ years  _ ago.”

Kei keeps his smug smile while they walk along the dark alley on the way to Yamaguchi’s place. In the next street, a couple of residents are huddled over the corner. As soon as they get near enough, Kei holds Yamaguchi by the wrist. There were too many people around, Yamaguchi couldn’t see what’s going on. 

“There’s a guy lying on the ground,” Tsukishima whispers. 

One of the spectators steps back and finds the two standing at the side. The man recognizes Kei and Kei nods his head in acknowledgement. The man tilts his head towards the crowd. “Guy got mugged. Be careful on the streets tonight, boys.”

_ No _ . Tadashi looks back from where they’ve been walking.  _ It’s only less than 5 blocks away.  _

  
  
  
  
  


_ Why didn’t I sense it? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this should be like a part 2 of previous chapter but hey, I got too lazy LOL sorry!
> 
> Anyway, hope you guys like this as well ;;; as always, stay safe!!!


	9. Symptoms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yamaguchi learns of the symptoms.  
> A fire breaks.

Kenma checks his phone for the nth time.  _ What’s taking Yamaguchi so long to call? _

“Oi,” Kuroo lightly slaps his hand. “No phones on the dinner table.”

The blonde clicks his tongue but pockets his phone away. “Yamaguchi still hasn’t called yet. Did Tsukishima hold him hostage or something?”

Kuroo snorts. “That’s a huge possibility.”

They need to tell Yamaguchi about the serum. The boy hadn’t said anything about any signs of having his powers growing weaker. But knowing him, he probably would brush it off and convince himself he just needs to work harder.  _ Which could be dangerous. _

The dinner table shakes and the light in the room blinks. Kenma raises his head from his bowl and meets eyes with Kuroo from across the table.  _ What was that? _

The elder stands and heads out into the living room, Kenma right on his heels. From the living room window, a dark smoke spirals from a far off building at the outskirts of town. In the midst of city lights, the brightest one stands far off in the edge of town, all covered in flames.

The two boys are frozen in place. The building is far enough to know they’re safe and yet, there’s a crippling feeling of uneasiness of the situation. 

Kenma feels his hoodie’s pocket and grabs his phone out. It’s Yamaguchi.

_ “Kenma-san,” _ he sounds a little out of breath.  _ “Something’s wrong.” _

“What do you mean? Where are you?”

_ “Miyagi. I’m swinging around,”  _ he breaks off in a second to breathe in. Kenma hears him land on something, the sound of rustling air leaves the background.  _ “There’s something wrong with my spider-sense.” _

_ Ah, the symptom. He’s noticed it.  _

“Yamaguchi, listen. We need to tell you something.” Kenma looks back to Kuroo, expecting him to be listening in. But the black-headed boy is gone from his previous spot by the living room window. 

_ Where’s Kuroo? But there’s no time. Yamaguchi needs to know now. _

“Those are symptoms,” Kenma starts. “Do you remember the serum you drank those months ago at training camp? The serum works as an enhancer for your human senses and strength, basically giving you those powers. But it has limited time. Kuroo found that the serum will only last in your system for a few months and if all of it is gone due to the natural cycle within your body, your powers will degenerate one by one.”

_ “Kind of like going back to normal?” _

“Yes.” Kenma swallows. “The only way to keep them within your system is to consume another glass of serum.”

There’s silence from the other end of the line.

“B-but of course, we won’t force you! Only if you still want to continue to have those powers. We know you didn’t exactly volunteered to have them in the first place--”

_ “Kenma-san, I’ll call you back.” _

The line cuts.

  
  
  
  


Tadashi removes his mask. He stares at the spiraling smoke in the sky and the bright flames consuming a whole building right at the edge of Miyagi, maybe even within Tokyo’s area. That’s a huge fire, how can he not sense it when it’s that huge?

_ Those are symptoms. _

_ Kind of like going back to normal. _

_ No.  _ Tadashi puts his mask back on and swings towards the burning building.

_ I refuse to go back to normal.  _

If he turns back to normal, what happens to Miyagi? They believe in Spiderman. Of course, not everyone is fond of him. He can’t help that. But what about those people he helped? They were people that barely anyone notices. They were people who were in trouble that others couldn’t help. They could’ve, but they chose not to. Or, they were afraid to. Or, they didn’t know how to. 

That’s how Spiderman came about. Because those people in need weren’t noticed, because nobody stood up for them. And Tadashi was like that before. He needed help and people around him knew. But no one stood up for him. Because they were afraid. Because they didn’t know how to help. 

Until Tsukishima Kei walked in. 

And Tadashi wanted nothing more than be a Tsukishima Kei to others. Because that’s what saved him. And he wanted to save others as much as he can. He didn’t want anybody to suffer like he did. 

No. He can’t go back to normal.

Normal means no Spiderman.

Tadashi can’t afford to lose his other self. 

  
  
  
  


Kenma stares at his phone. 

Maybe he needed time to process it? Yes, probably. But Kenma did try his best to explain it as simple as he can. Although, it is a hard decision to make. He can’t blame Yamaguchi. He’s put a lot of responsibility unto himself. He needs to think this through.

“C’mon,” Kenma looks back and sees Kuroo pacing around the living room, phone on his ear. “Damn it! Pick up!”

“Kuro, what’s wrong?”

The elder stops in his tracks and aggressively starts to dial another number. “That explosion. It looks like it’s near my parents’ lab.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while 😅
> 
> Sorry for the super late update, hit a bit of a writer's block. Being at home kind of restricts my thought process lol never knew I was such an outside-person until this whole quarantine thing. 
> 
> Just a little disclaimer, I'm bad at science so I might not explain things thoroughly with what's going on with yamaguchi's powers or abt the serum. but basically, the serum lasts in his body for only a few months as it kind of dissolves??? idk how to explain rn but hopefully I can explain it better in the coming chapters 😅 you can ask any questions if you need clarification on anything!!! I'll answer it the best that I can (without any spoilers tho).
> 
> But I hope you guys enjoy this one, there's a sort of a second part to this later on. I'll post it as soon as I can!!!
> 
> Hope all of you is well~ have a great day (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧


	10. The Kuroos pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spiderman comes to the rescue of the burning building in Tokyo.

  
  
  


Tadashi was right, the burning building was within Tokyo’s area. It’s a 10-story building with glass windows on one side. Smoke is coming out of every opened window and Tadashi hears a group of people from the left side. When he swings over, he sees a huge number of people who have exited the building from the entrance. 

The smoke is too thick and he’s having trouble sensing anything from inside the building. 

Damn these symptoms.

He swings down right before the people below. All of them are wearing matching white lab coats, each of them seem to have at least one part of it got burned from the fire. All eyes were on him when he landed and Tadashi didn't waste a second to speak up, “Is there anybody else in the building that you know of?”

Murmurs arise from everyone but no one steps up, some are even avoiding eye contact with him. Finally, one man emerges from the crowd, his face contorted when he speaks, “Our chief scientists are still there! On the 5th floor, please!”

Tadashi nods and swings right into the glass window of the 5th floor. His landing shocks someone from the other end of the room. When the boy looks up to the voice, it’s a woman in her late 30s, wearing the same lab coat as the others from below. 

“I’m here to help you get out,” he tells her and slowly approaches her, careful not to scare her more. But the woman might have recognized him, seeing as she voluntarily walks towards him. Tadashi opens his arms to welcome the woman but a voice suddenly erupts from the other end of the room.

A scream of a man is heard but Tadashi can’t see the actual person. There’s fire enveloping the other side and there’s no way around that would help him get to the man without burning himself and the woman in his arms. 

“That’s my husband,” the woman whispers, a sob threatening to break from her and Yamaguchi holds her tighter.

“It’s okay,” he whispers back to her and turns his attention to the direction of the man. “I’ll be back for you! I’ll need to get your wife to the ground first!”

Tadashi doesn’t wait for a reply and just swings out the same window that he entered from, the woman tucked in his arms. Surprisingly, she doesn’t seem too scared of the swing, she looks more concerned for the man left behind. 

As he settles her to the ground next to the others, Tadashi sees a number of firetrucks approaching.  _ Right on time _ .

He swings up to a nearby gate and looks for another opening. The glass window he went in earlier won’t be of much help if he can’t get close to the man because of the flames inside. He spots the next room with glass windows and swings right into it. 

_ Each room has two doors, each by the other end. _

As the glass breaks and he makes his way inside, he hears voices from the other room where the man is. The sound of burning debris keeps the voice indistinguishable so Tadashi proceeds to leave the room he’s in to reach the man from the other room. 

As he kicks the door open of the room he’s in, he makes a sharp turn to the next room only to be blinded by a bright red light. A burning sensation makes Tadashi’s body crumble to the shaking ground. But as soon as it hits him, the feeling leaves his body soon after. It was merely a few seconds of unidentifiable sensation but it left Tadashi’s mind completely blank.

When he regains control of himself again, he notices he’s on his knees and heaving. 

_ What the hell was that? _

He hears clanking of metal to the ground and more heavy debris falling, kicking his mind back to his original plan. He stands up and enters the other room. The man stands in the middle of the burning room, hands given up on his sides. There’s a fire extinguisher by his feet and by the looks of it, it’s empty. 

“Hey,” Tadashi calls and the man looks at him, eyes dead.  _ He looks familiar _ . “I’ll get you out of here.”

The man doesn’t respond but Tadashi pulls him out of the room and into the next one. As he carries him out the window, he sees the name on the lab coat. 

_ Kuroo. _

  
  


When they land on the ground, the firefighters have started extinguishing the flames. The woman from earlier runs in the man’s arms, tears running down her face. Tadashi can’t help but feel his heart ache. He doesn’t know what he would’ve felt if he didn’t save Kuroo’s parents. No one crowds the two during their moment, and so Tadashi turns to the closest person on the scene. 

“Excuse me,” the few people who heard him turn their heads, “Are you sure they were the only ones left in the building?”

Most of them avoided looking at him and it left Tadashi confused. They were like this earlier too, unsure of their answers. Like, they know what to say but don’t know how to say it.

“We’re the last ones in there,” it’s Kuroo’s dad that answers. He’s holding his wife in his arms, her face buried in his chest. “We were trying to save some files but got caught in the flames.”

Tadashi nods and takes one last look at the burning building. “I’ll be on my way, then.”

“Thank you,” Kuroo’s dad said. “Spiderman.”

He bows his head before swinging up and back to Miyagi.

  
  
  
  


Kuroo falls onto the couch with a sigh of relief, he rubs his hands on his face and keeps his head hung low. Kenma soothes a hand over his shoulder and turns back to his phone.

“Thank you, Yamaguchi.”

_ “Is Kuroo-san alright?” _

“He will be, don’t worry.”

Kenma ends the call and falls right next to Kuroo’s side. He wraps the elder in his arms and rests his head on to the black-haired boy’s shoulder. There’s a quiet sob coming from Kuroo and whispered thank you’s. Kenma feels tears welling up in his own eyes seeing his best friend and the love of his life like this. 

They stay like that for a while until they eventually fall asleep, Kenma holding Kuroo in his arms. Kenma hopes he could give the same comfort that Kuroo gives him whenever he needs it.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this doesn't have much other than a little kuroken cuddles AJHSDJAHSF IM SO SORRY promise to have something more plot-centric next chapter!!!!
> 
> anyways, hope you guys still enjoy this and have a great day~


	11. Of Gratitude and Jealousy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kuroo gets a little too close and Tsukishima doesn't appreciate it.

It’s the last day of their Tokyo training camp, a week after the incident. 

Tadashi has been feeling the symptoms now more than ever. His powers are a complete mess; his spider-senses can go from zero to hundred at the most random times. One time during class, he was so jumpy. He gets startled over the quietest sounds around him: pencil tapping, chalk against the board, chairs scraping against the ground. Then, there was this day where he seemed so out of it. Tsukishima had to forcefully drag his arm to get his attention. 

His strength and stamina was also so erratic. Earlier in the training camp, he spent two days straight practicing until almost midnight, hitting serves and spikes. If Suga didn’t scold him and threatened to tell Daichi, he probably wouldn’t leave the gym. The next day, his energy was still overflowing that he kept bouncing on the balls of his feet. Yachi commented on how happy yet restless he looks. Later on, Kenma pretends to look for Hinata on their side of the court. He slides in a comment of how he looks too energetic and might draw a bit of attention. After that, as if on queue, his energy gets drained and he barely had enough left to make it to dinner. He even ended up on Kageyama's side of the room when it was time to sleep. Nobody had the heart to tell him off, or nobody wanted to go against Tsukishima’s intimidating aura when he moved his and Tadashi’s stuff over to the side where the boy is sleeping rather. Kageyama didn’t say a word, but it’s only because it’s Yamaguchi who’s on his spot. If it were Tsukishima himself, he’d probably start a fight over it.

Tadashi wishes he could at least finish the day without any trouble. 

“Here,” Tsukishima places a whole kebab on his plate. 

“I’m full, Tsukki.”

He gets a glare in return. 

“Fine.”

“Hey, hey, hey! Tsukki!” The two first years look up and see Bokuto and Kuroo approaching. The two elders have plates on their hands full of various foods served in the BBQ party. “Why are you giving Freckles-kun your food? You should be eating more y’know!”

“Eat more so you won’t look like a pole, kid.”

Kuroo pulls Tsukishima by the neck, putting him on a headlock. Yamaguchi chuckles by the side, seeing the whole exchange in front of him. Bokuto starts feeding Kei with the food on his plate. The tall blonde just struggles in Kuroo’s grip but Yamaguchi knows he can get out of it if he actually tries. Tadashi feels proud, seeing Kei open up and be more comfortable with different people. He realizes Tsukishima helped him in a way to be stronger and in return, he’s helped Kei be comfortable around people. 

“Hey, Spidey,” he hears a whisper and feels an arm wrap around his shoulders. He looks up, it’s Kuroo. They haven’t talked since that day. 

“Kuroo-san,” the elder doesn’t look at him, just keeps his eyes on Bokuto messing with Tsukishima. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, more than fine.” he gives Yamaguchi a smile, this time while looking at him. He tightens his grip on the younger’s shoulder. “ _ They’re _ fine. And it’s all because of you.”

Yamaguchi waves his hand to say no but Kuroo continues, “Don’t give me that humble hero shit. You saved my parents’ lives, kid. I’d do anything to pay you back.”

“You don’t have to, Kuroo-san. I want to do these kinds of things. I wanna keep helping people.”

“I know,” he gives Tadashi a wide smile and quick squeeze on his shoulder. “And I’m going to make sure you’ll keep doing so.”

“AKAAAAASHI! THAT’S NOT FAIR!”

“What’s not fair Bokuto-san, is that you’re force-feeding Tsukishima,”

The two looked up. Tadashi finds Akaashi and Bokuto arguing over a plate of food and feels Kuroo’s arm retreating from it’s position on his shoulder. When he looks back at the elder, he’s got a sly grin on his face and puts both his hands up in a surrendering pose. Tadashi looks up and sees Tsukishima glaring daggers at the elder. 

Kuro moves away from Tadashi, still in his surrendering pose and walks past Tsukishima with a shit eating grin. Before he turns around, he shoots a wink at Tadashi. The freckled boy flushes at the action, all in full embarrassment. Kei seems to dislike the action evidently more than Tadashi, his eyes narrowing and his lips downturned in a nasty scowl. 

Tadashi chuckles at his best friend’s expression. He moves to stand next to him, to pull him by the arm but Kei moves before he even reaches his hand out. “Tsukki?”

The blonde looks at him for just a second, his expression changed from a scowl to dead eyes. Tadashi is taken aback at the expression. It’s not his first time seeing it, but it sure is the first time it’s directed at him.

Kei turns away without saying a word.

  
  
  
  


Kei still hasn’t said a word. On the bus back home, the two sat next to each other. Yamaguchi had tried to start a conversation at least 3 times, receiving nothing but a shrug or a blank stare as a reply. It isn’t as disheartening as much as it’s irritating. What did he do to get those looks? Their friendship has surpassed the point of words but those blank stares and empty expressions aren't really something Yamaguchi is used to dealing with. At least, not when it’s directed at him.

Tadashi chalks it up to Kei’s pettiness. Over what, he hasn’t figured it out yet.

Or, maybe he has.

Tsukishima Kei is a petty bastard. Even he knows this himself. But the way he’s acting towards Yamaguchi just because of  _ that _ , might be his lowest petty act ever. 

They get off the bus and Takeda-sensei gathers them around for a moment. Yamaguchi stands next to him like usual. Kei feels like punching himself when he remembers all of his friend’s effort to gauge him in their usual conversations, only to be shut down by his emotionally-constipated self. He just couldn’t bring himself to talk while his head was still practically fuming. With what, he can’t really put a finger on it.

All he knows is that he feels bad about being somewhat  _ entitled  _ to Yamaguchi. God, even saying it out loud in his head sounds so pathetic. He knows he shouldn’t be and nobody should be entitled to Tadashi aside from his own self. But Kei can’t help but feel that way. What is he some kind of predatory animal that likes to own people? 

Yamaguchi is his best friend. They’ve always been close and it’s always been just the two of them. But now, there’s a whole lot of people that have entered their life. Each and everyone of them is getting closer to both of them, all coming in different directions towards each one of them.

They’re not exactly pulling them apart. But there’s this fear that Kei has, buried deep within him. That maybe, at some point, he and Tadashi would fall apart. That they’ll lose what they have right now. Be it in any way; meeting new people, changing interests, moving away, going to different colleges, getting  _ hurt  _ or worse--

What is wrong with him?

When they get dismissed, Yamaguchi bumps his shoulders against his. Kei looks at him and he gets a smile in return. The blonde blinks at him, still somehow recovering from his rapid flood of thoughts. Yamaguchi’s by the school gates when he looks back at Kei.

“Catch up, long legs.” 

It takes less than five strides to walk next to Tadashi. When the boy notices that they’re now walking the same pace, he laughs lightly. Kei hides a smile, looking away for a moment. What is he even worried about?

This is Yamaguchi Tadashi and Tsukishima Kei. 

They’ll never fall apart. 

Kei swears his life on it. 

No one is going to ever break them.

Not even Kuroo fucking Tetsurou and his smug grin and sudden  _ advances  _ towards Tadashi is going to get to them.

  
  
  


_ Ah _ , that was it.

It was  _ that _ .

  
  


Tsukishima Kei has finally known what he’s fuming about.

And apparently, Yamaguchi Tadashi has figured it out too.

  
  
  


“Hey, Tsukki,” they’re now at the intersection where they usually part. “Can I come over at your place tonight?”

“You don’t have to ask, y’know.”

“I know,” Tadashi smiles at him and Kei knows there’s something behind it. “Just making sure,”

“Making sure what? That my mom will let you in? She’ll let you in even if I’m not home,”

“You think she’ll lend me a key to your house?”

“It’s only a matter of time until she does. She probably has a spare for you already,”

“When do you think she’ll give it?”

“Why do you ask? Are you planning on breaking into the house when I’m not there?”

“Yes. I’m gonna steal all your dinosaur collections and sell them off,”

“Good luck finding someone who’s interested in them,”

“You think no one out there has the same taste as you?”

“It'll be hard to find someone like me.”

“Yeah, even Akiteru-kun couldn’t be like you even if he tried hard enough.”

“I know. I’m just too pe--”

“--petty?”

Kei’s words die in his lips. He stops in his tracks, slowly looking back at his best friend. “What?”

Tadashi looks back at him with an too-innocent smile. “What.”

“I’m not petty,” even he knows this is a lie. But hey, there’s no better way in reconciling with his best friend than having a stupid argument.

“Then what do you call that thing earlier?”

“What thing?”

“That whole ignoring and silent treatment thing after Kuroo-san talked to me,” okay maybe this isn’t a stupid argument. Kei doesn’t like where this is going. “Hinata thought we fought, even Kageyama noticed. And he barely pays attention to anything else.”

Kei sighs and starts walking again. They’re almost home.

“I didn’t like the way Kuroo-san was all over you,”

“All over me? What, we were just talking!”

“About what?  _ Volleyball _ ? With his hands around your shoulders, his lips near your ear?  _ Whispering  _ about volleyball?”

“What if I say yes, it’s about that?”

“What if I say I call that bullshit?”

“What if I say I call that getting jealous?”

Kei almost trips on his feet. He whips his head towards Yamaguchi who’s already looking at him, his smile gone. He’s just, looking and somewhat searching for something. An answer, a confirmation, Kei doesn’t know. They stand there, looking at each other. 

He knew that was it. But what good would it do if he confirmed it to Yamaguchi? What if he calls him an idiot, tells him off for being possessive? They’re friends. And Yamaguchi can have all the friends that he wants. Even if it was Kuroo, even if it gives Kei an unsettling feeling seeing the two of them together. Even if it was anyone else, actually. Anyone that gets too close to Yamaguchi gives Kei an unsettling feeling. Like, he’ll be replaced.

“Kei! Tadashi!”

Kei’s mother stands by the gates of their house, shopping bags in hand. The two boys snaps from their little moment and awkwardly walks up to her. She greets the boys with a smile and the two instinctively take the bags from her. She opens the gate and instructs the boys to close it as she walks to the door.

“You know he’s into Kenma-san, right?” Tadashi whispers as the two of them enter through the gate. 

“How do you know he’s not messing with you?”

“He’s not,”

“You don’t know that,”

“I know. Because it’s most likely he’s messing with  _ you _ , not me.” Kei whirls his head towards Tadashi, protest ready to come out of his mouth until it dies before he even gets it out. Because, that is definitely something Kuroo would do. That bastard. “I did him a favor earlier, okay? He was just thanking me,”

They walk straight to the kitchen to put the groceries on the counter. Kei’s mother turns on the TV as she rummages through the bags and Kei excuses the two of them to go up to Kei’s room. When his mom shoos them off, Tadashi goes up first, calling dibs on the spot on the bed. Kei is about to run after him when he overhears the night’s news:

_ “Investigations on the recent fire that broke out in the outskirts of Tokyo are still ongoing. Last week, a research facility was engulfed in flames where more than a hundred researchers were onsite. Luckily, they evacuated the area with no casualties. Our hero Spiderman also came to lend a hand in the evacuation as he helped the two remaining head researchers escape the burning building.  _

_ The two head researchers, Kuroo Tenji and Kuroo Ritsu, are participating in the investigation of how the fire broke out. As the damage on the facility is yet to be determined, the project of the two heads has been put on hold as per the Department of Defense’s orders. The department oversees the project that was being held in the facility and have promised to help in the investigation of the incident--” _

“What are you still doing here? Tadashi’s waiting for you upstairs,” Kei jumps when his mother hands him a bowl of snacks. “Go and share that with him, okay? Make sure you bring the bowl back here after.”

“Y-yeah, okay…”

He walks up to his room, bowl of snacks in hand. Yamaguchi left his bedroom door ajar, Kei sees him flipping through his notes with his back on Kei’s headboard.

  
  


_ I did him a favor earlier, okay? He was just thanking me. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLOOOOO AKHDKHASKF is everyone well? I haven't been here in ages im so sorry :((( I kinda got lost and somehow forgot how to portray TsukkiYama which is was very very very hard to get back to but thankfully all the other fics abt them got me back and sooo I ended up with this 2k+ update LMAOOOO
> 
> I wanted to cut this in 2 but my friend told me it's a lot better to read it in one go so ╮(￣～￣)╭
> 
> Hope you guys like this!!!


	12. A Safe Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All the Kuroo's wanted was a safe place for their sons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I'm not very good at science so if there's anything inaccurate about anything in any part of this, please remember that this is fiction LOL 
> 
> Thanks!

  
  


The previous white room is now in gray, some parts in black while the ones who had it worst were now in ashes. Kuroo Ritsu stares longingly at their previous testing room; documents burned to dust and equipment broken and burned beyond repair. 

“According to the building’s blueprint, this was a testing room,” one of the officers from the pyro-forensic team says. He runs his gloved hand along the black walls and feels the remnants of the ashes from the objects that've been practically disintegrated. “What exactly were you testing here, sensei?”

“Chemicals,” Kuroo Tenji answers. “We were working on a formula involving certain substances. We might have miscalculated the flammable reactions the chemicals might have resulted to.”

The officer looks at him with a raised eyebrow. “You’ve been working as a researcher for about 20 years now, right? That seems like an awful rookie mistake, don’t you think?”

“There are a hundred reactions to thousands of chemical combinations, officer.” Ritsu butts in. “Even with a 20-year experience, it’s not easy to read and predict chemical reactions with various formulas and amounts.”

Another man from the investigation team sighs. “Well, we can’t argue with an expert with that.”

The pyro-forensic officer from earlier gives his teammate a side-eye but faces the two Kuroos ahead. “I’ll need a copy of all the chemicals that were in this room on that day, Kuroo-sensei.”

“We’ll work on it with our team,” Tenji motions to the burned desks and tables from the other side of the room. “Our records have basically turned to ashes so we’ll need everyone’s help in remembering the substances we’ve used.”

“We appreciate your efforts, sir.”

“It’s the least we could do,”

  
  
  
  
  


As the two heads of the research facility exit the burned building, Tenji feels his phone vibrate from his jacket pocket. His face sours at the name on the caller ID. 

“Who is it?” his wife asks.

“The Ministry. Get in the car,” as soon as they get inside their vehicle, he answers his phone. “Yes, Secretary Akui?”

_ “I assume the investigation is over?” _

“We’ll be providing them a list of flammable chemicals that could cause large explosions,”

_ “Hmm. Enough to cover up the true source of the flames?” _

“Yes, sir.”

_ “It better be. We need that investigation closed soon and we need it done quietly. We don’t need eyes on us while Project Hero is yet to be completed.” _

“We understand, sir.”

_ “Good. I need an update with the development on the serum as well. I’m arranging a new building for our research facility. I’ll be in contact when it’s ready,” _

“We’ll contact you about any developments or setbacks with the serum,”

_ “I don’t need setbacks! I need developments. If there’s any setback, get it fixed before you report it. We’re running out of test subjects, Kuroo. We can’t keep burning them alive until you develop the serum!” _

“We know that!”

“Then, start working!”

The other line cuts off. Tenji throws his phone recklessly onto the dashboard and sighs in frustration. Ritsu takes one of his hands and places it on her lap. It’s warm and comforting despite knowing that his wife is struggling as much as he is. She’s incredible. Always have been, always will be. 

They stay like that for a while, that looming question hanging in the air.

  
  
  


The car ride home was quiet. The tension has somehow decreased and Ritsu sat in the passenger seat while looking through the passing streets. People in Tokyo never seem to rest, fancy lights illuminate the crowded streets. Children skip their way through the streets, hands held tight by their parents. Teens walk in groups, laughter and jokes thrown from left and right. Adults walk alone, suitcases and smartphones in hand but all eager to come home to their families.

Tokyo is alive even at this time of night. But the city isn’t the only thing that’s alive tonight. Somewhere, in one of these streets, there’s somebody who won’t make it home. 

The crime rate in Tokyo is the highest one in all of Japan. 

Albeit the country is known for having one of the lowest crime rates in the world, the Ministry of Defense wanted to achieve more. They wanted a  _ crime-free  _ country. 

And this ideal is what brought the Kuroos into where they are now.    
  


Their car stops just in front of their house. From her view in the car window, Ritsu finds her son Tetsurou immersed in a happy conversation with Kenma in their living room. The scene puts a smile on her face; just her two boys being themselves. Slowly, her smile fades.

“I just wanted a place for my sons to be safe,”

Tenji hears her and reaches out to hold her hand, “Yes and we proposed Project Hero because of that. We needed to make our city safe for the boys. For their friends. For everyone in Tokyo. We needed someone who can save them in whatever trouble they might be in.”   
  
  


“Is that still what we’re doing?”

  
  


“I don’t know, love. Even I’m not sure anymore,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO AGAINNNNN AKSDKLHF
> 
> im back with a short update this time bc my last one was incredibly long and the next one might just be a tad bit longer (￣ ￣|||)
> 
> thank you everyone for the comments so far, they fuel me in writing this (♡μ_μ) i'll make sure to reply to everyone!!! <333
> 
> anyways, hope you enjoy this <333


	13. Adjustments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tadashi is running out of excuses.

  
  
  


Students pile out of the room as the bell for lunch rings. Usually, Tadashi would be up on his feet by this time, his bento in hand and walk towards Tsukishima’s desk to ask the blonde if they can eat together. But today, Tadashi seems to be out of it. He stays at his desk, his eyes a little unfocused. His shoulders are drooping and basically, he’s just the pure embodiment of exhaustion. 

His spider powers are weakening day after day. Somehow, he feels like it’s even worse than his normal human strength and stamina. Tadashi remembers before acquiring his powers, he’s able to survive morning and after class volleyball practice without having the urge to fall asleep during class. 

Despite this struggle however, he still continues to help out as Spiderman. He still goes out every night, swinging around town in hopes of finding someone in need. His spider senses are as good as gone but Kenma has given him a tech that has wiretapped into Miyagi’s police line.  _ In replacement of your spider senses _ , the elder told him. It’s an amazing invention. The only catch about it is that Spiderman always arrives at least a few minutes before the police do. On bad days, he arrives when the police are already there. As a result, he needed to interact with them sometimes. 

Those parts are the ones that Spiderman isn’t very much fond of. He doesn’t like getting involved with the police. Given that he’s basically a vigilante, some officers have the tendency to want to apprehend him. Like last night, a man assaulted a female student and when the police tried to question him, he ran off in his car. This ended in a car chase around town and so Spiderman swung along the buildings to try and stop the man’s car. When he successfully stopped it by catching it with his webs, the officers that came in pointed a gun at him.

“What are you doing?” Tadashi barely talks as Spiderman. He’s afraid it’s going to give his identity away. But with a gun pointed at his head, he’s not going to keep his mouth shut. “You should be opening that car’s door and getting that guy out,”

“Don’t tell me what to do, you spider creep.” The man snickers. “I’ve had just about enough of you showing up where we are. Quit playing hero and go home. We don’t need you,”

His words irritated Tadashi. Without thinking, he shot webs on the man’s gun. It covered the whole muzzle and if the man ever pulls the trigger, it’s gonna blow up right in his hand. He proceeds to web the wheels on the car and pulls the struggling guy from it.

He hands over the man to the other police officers who stood by the sides. After he sees the culprit getting handcuffed, he walks towards the other officer who’s staring at his webbed hands.

“If you didn’t need me, you could’ve caught that guy before he had the chance to get in his car,” he takes a step back. “I’m not competing with you guys on how many bad guys to arrest. 

“That web will melt in an hour or so. Sorry, I can’t help you out of it. Like you said, I’m not needed here anyway,” he shoots his web up and swings out of their view.  
  
  


Tsukishima stayed seated when the bell rang. It’s like a routine, Yamaguchi would be up on his feet as soon as the bell rings, heading towards him with his bento and would annoyingly ask if they can eat together. As if Tsukishima could turn him down. As if he can spend the whole lunch hour with somebody else. 

But when a few minutes pass and there’s no call of his name or a sound of a chair being pulled towards him, he looks up and finds Yamaguchi still on his seat.   
  


Yamaguchi jumps when he hears a chair getting pulled in front of him. In a second, Kei is in front of him and taking a seat at the chair he pulled up. “What? It’s lunch, didn’t you hear the bell?”

He gives him an unimpressed look, slouching in his seat with difficulty. His long legs are struggling underneath Yamaguchi’s desk, it makes Tadashi laugh. 

“What are you looking so smug for, Yamaguchi?”

“Nothing. Just thought about how the ever so unmoving Tsukishima Kei dragged himself out of his seat during his precious resting time. What, scared I didn’t want to eat lunch with you anymore?”

“Really? That’s coming from the guy who asks me everyday if I can eat with him?”

“Who knows, I might be getting tired of asking,”

Tsukishima opens his mouth for a protest but whatever he was going to say dies on his lips. His eyes grew wide in surprise but in a second, his eyebrows shot up with a questioning look. “Oi! What does that supposed to mean!?”

Tadashi bursts into a loud fit of laughter at his friend’s reaction, “What’s with that face? Did you really take that seriously!?”

Kei doesn’t reply and it fuels the laughter in Tadashi even more. He laughs to the point of crying, all the while the blonde just stares at him in disbelief. When he’s had enough (and feel like he might’ve pushed too far), Tadashi wipes his tears away with the sleeve of his shirt. 

“What is that?”

He’s stuck with his hand on his eye as Kei holds his arm. It’s a silly position but it doesn’t seem to be as funny as earlier. Kei is staring intently on his inner arm where a badge of purple is blooming. Yamaguchi racks his brain for an excuse but apparently, he didn’t need one.

“From working at the mart again?”

“Y-yeah,” Tadashi avoids his eyes. “I don’t really remember when I got it, to be honest.”

It’s not entirely a lie. He really doesn’t remember where he got it. Swinging around town to help people in his sorry state as a hero has him going home with multiple scratches and bruises. He’s never really paid attention to them as most of them heal pretty fast. Well, back when he was still strong at least. Now, this purple mark on his arm is probably going to last a week.

Kei removes his glasses and cleans it using the end of his shirt. “We’ve talked about this. I told you to stop pushing yourself. You’re not falling behind anybody, Yamaguchi.”

“I know that,” he pulls his sleeves back down. “I’m just… trying to save some money to buy a new manga, that’s all.”

He’s really running out of excuses by now. 

“What manga? Why didn’t you tell me? I could just pinch in so we can share it,”

“Tsukki,” he glares at his friend and Kei pretends to continuously clean his glasses, avoiding eye contact, “I’m not letting you buy me stuff,”

“I said I was going to pinch in. I didn’t say I was gonna buy the whole thing,” Kei mutters.

“Whatever. I’m buying that manga on my own,”

“Fine. You sound like you don’t wanna share. What is it anyway?”

“Just… some shounen manga I discovered a few weeks ago,”

“What’s the title?”

“I’m not telling,” only because his brain can’t come up with anything. 

Kei gives him a suspicious grin, “I bet it’s something lewd that’s why you don’t wanna share,”

“What are you, 12!?”

  
  
  
  
  


It’s one of those rare days where Tadashi isn’t at Kei’s place. It feels weird to feel much more at home at his best friend’s house instead of his own. But Tadashi doesn’t necessarily hate being at home. He gets to see his mom, which happens to be the best thing about being at home. It’s also one of those rare days that she’s home. 

They have dinner together that night, just her talking about work and asking about Tadashi’s school and volleyball practice. Tadashi feels his heart swell at the thought of her still catching up to what he’s up to despite having barely enough time to rest herself. She’s hardworking and loving and Tadashi is going to do everything to protect her. 

He hugs her good night when it gets a little late and he makes his way to his room. He pulls out his phone and sees a text from Kenma. 

**Kenma-san** :  _ Kuro finished the serum _

**Kenma-san** :  _ Do you still want it? _

**Yamaguchi** :  _ Yes. Definitely. _   
**Yamaguchi** :  _ I’ll swing by your place to get it. _   
  
**Kenma-san** :  _ You don’t have to. _ _  
_ **Kenma-san** :  _ We’re staying near Miyagi by the weekend. I’ll text you the location so we can meet up.  _ _  
_   
**Yamaguchi** :  _ Okay _ . 

**Yamaguchi** :  _ Thank you, Kenma-san.  _ _  
_   
**Kenma-san** :  _ Don’t thank us yet _ _  
_ **Kenma-san** :  _ Kuro made some adjustments _ _  
_ **Kenma-san** :  _ You need to hear all of it before I let you take it.  _

  
  
  


_ Adjustments? _

What could Kuroo possibly adjust in the serum?

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay I know I said the next chapter was going to be a long one but I thought that okay, maybe I can actually split it into parts??? wtv its what im going to do bc my brain needs a rest and I also dont wanna leave you guys hanging for too long ;;;
> 
> but then again this chapter did ended with a cliff hanger AJHSGJAHSGDAF idk anymore 
> 
> hope you guys like this and hope everyone is well!!!! <333


	14. Emergency

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kei hasn’t run this fast in his life.

The weekend comes around filling Yamaguchi with anxiety. Kuroo and Kenma are already on their way, the address they gave to meet up was of some rest house near the boundary of Tokyo and Miyagi. Apparently, the Kozume’s own the place and only ever gets used for gatherings. The two told Kenma’s parents that they were going to use the house for their volleyball team outing. Despite the poor excuse (considering it was the middle of a semester), Kenma’s parents didn’t ask for further details. 

“If you don’t feel so good, you should’ve just skipped practice.”

Tadashi looks up to find Kei’s worried eyes, “I’m fine.”

“Your hair spikes up when you’re mad, nervous, or scared.” The taller boy raises his hand and pokes at Tadashi’s cowlick hair, “You’re obviously not mad and there’s nothing scaring you right now, so what are you nervous about?”

_You_.

Apart from his nerves concerning the adjustments on the serum that he’ll intake in a few hours, his anxious thoughts also included Tsukishima’s watchful eye on him. Tadashi knows it’s because of the bruises he’s been getting. It’s worrying the blonde so much that he almost wants to keep Yamaguchi by his side at all times. 

It’s endearing, really. If only Tadashi wasn’t hiding something from him, he would have appreciated his best friend’s care for him more. 

  
  
  
  


During one of their breaks in practice, Shimizu approaches Yamaguchi by the bench with a concerned look on her face. 

“Your phone’s been vibrating inside your locker for a while, can you go and check it out? Might be important,”

Tadashi gives her his thanks and heads towards their club room with hurried steps. If it’s loud enough for someone to hear, then that must’ve been that device Kenma gave him that’s wiretapped into Miyagi’s police department. 

He was right. There’s an armed robbery currently happening in the outskirts of town. If he can leave right now, he can get there before the police that were dispatched. He slips the device in his pockets and grabs his backpack, glancing towards the newly replaced window in their clubroom as a means to get out fast without being--

“Yamaguchi,” Tadashi turns his head towards the door. Kei’s standing there, hands on the knob and catching his breath. “What’s wrong?”

_Shit._

“Emergency,” he says, trying to keep it short.

“What happened? Is it your mom?” _Ah, but that will never work on Tsukki._

“Shimada-san’s,” he says before he can even think. “Need to go there now.” He grabs the doorknob and opens it wide enough so he can get out but Kei holds him by the wrist before he can even make it down the stairs. 

“I’ll come with you--”

“No!” 

Even Tadashi is surprised at his own voice but he’s in a hurry, he needs to get there now and Kei is being difficult.

“Tell coach I’m skipping the rest of the practice, I’m sorry.”

He ignores the look of surprise and hurt in Kei’s face as he turns around and sprints down the stairs. 

  
  
  
  


He arrives at the scene a little short of late. His exhaustion from their earlier training and his mind racing at the thought of Kei’s expressions eating up his remaining strength.

Two men clad in black from their masks to their thick jackets run towards a black van parked just by the edge of the street. The men are tall but lanky, heavy bags of jewelry keeping them from running on their full speed. Tadashi quickly swings their way and lands just a few steps in front of them, causing the men to stop in their tracks abruptly.

One of them stumbles and lands on his face due to the momentum but the other charges towards him with no hesitation. The man has no weapon, just swings the bag of jewelry towards Tadashi to knock him down. Despite his decreased strength, the man's actions don't go as planned as it only took a few steps back for Spiderman to find his balance again and grab the man by his collar and turn him around. In a split second, Tadashi wraps the man's arms together with his webs and kicks him forward.

The other who stumbled earlier made no move and only watched as his partner slumped down face first next to him. Tadashi spares the man a glance, seeing a glimpse of panic in his face despite being obscured by his ski mask. As Tadashi moves closer to them to grab the bag of jewelry, things escalate faster than his remaining spider sense can keep up with.

He sees a change in the expression of the man on the ground in front of him and in the next moment, the sound of a car door opening is heard. Before he could turn around, a heavy sensation ran down on him and his ears started to ring. His vision is soon to follow as black patches appear in his sight and to deliver the last blow, he gets kicked to the ground as another hit to his head is made.

As the van drives off, a new shade of red stains the hero’s mask. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


On the other side of Miyagi, Shimada Mart is engulfed in flames.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


-

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Kei can’t feel his legs. He hasn’t run this fast in his life; not in training, not in practice matches, not even in an actual game. But those things never required this much speed, none of them were important. None of those felt like his chest would explode in anxiety, in fear if he doesn’t make it in time. 

Hinata and Yachi’s worried voices seem too far off behind him. He doesn’t care. He just needs to get there now.

“Dammit, who knew that bastard could run that fast!” Kageyama curses in between breaths. Hinata hits him at the side.

“He’s panicking, that’s why! We can catch up to him if you stop wasting your breath by complaining!”

Yachi is on the verge of tears, trying to catch up to the two in front of her. “Ah, I hope Yamaguchi-kun and Shimada-san are alright!” 

  
  


Right after practice, the first years were on their way out of the school gates when they were stopped by one of the professors. They were told to take a detour if they ever need to pass by 4th street on their way home due to a huge fire at the mart. 

And there was only one mart around the area, Shimada-san’s.

Tsukishima bolted out of the gate as soon as the realization hit him, the other three following suit in worry. 

  
  
  
  
  


Kei arrives at the scene out of breath but he wastes no time in looking for that familiar, cowlick hair and freckled face. He should be here, where the fire trucks are parked and where a few people are being escorted by the firemen. Curse all these spectators, they’re all just in the way! He weaves through the crowd and gets closer to the trucks. No green headed boy with an all too familiar face, _where is he!?_

There’s too many people, too many faces he doesn’t recognize. The smell of smoke and burnt materials is nauseating. _Where is he!?_ Kei stands out in the middle of the crowd with his height, he should be able to see him. He doesn’t hear him. He should be calling him by his silly childhood nickname somewhere around. _Where is he!?_

His breathing gets a little too heavy, his head getting a little dizzy, everything’s just getting a little too much.

_WHERE ARE YOU, TADASHI!_

“Tsukishima, you idiot!”

Kei gets roughly yanked by his collar and forced to look back at a seething Kageyama Tobio. The setter gives him a look. His earlier pissed off expression softens at the sight of an unusually panicked Tsukishima. He lets go of the blonde’s uniform. “Shimada-san’s over there,”

  
  


“Where is he?” Kei asks as soon as he’s within Shimada’s view. 

“Oi, you rude bastard!” Hinata shoves him lightly. “Can’t you see Shimada-san’s state right now!?”

He does. Shimada has a white blanket around his shoulders, sitting on the pedestrian right across his mart that’s been reduced to ashes. He still looks a little shaken, parts of his apron have turned brown by getting caught on fire and his thick rimmed glasses are nowhere to be found.

“We’re sorry about that, Shimada-san,” Yachi apologizes for him, Kei will need to thank her for later. His panic has made all his sense fly out the window. “We’re just worried about you and Yamaguchi-kun,”

“Tadashi?” there’s a clear confusion on the elder’s face. 

“He rushed here before practice ended,” Kei supplies, his anxiety from earlier doubling over. “He said there was an emergency,”

Shimada’s expression didn’t change. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_… no._

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... hi?
> 
> not sure if anyone's still reading but im sorry for kind of abandoning this fic for almost a year. haven't had any motivation to continue this but I at least want to actually finish it if I could. 
> 
> hope everyone is well and may you all have a great day!!! (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ


	15. Hibernation healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tadashi learns of the serum's adjustments.

  
  
  
  
  


Tadashi wakes up to a massive headache and an unfamiliar place. He blinks a few times, adjusting his eyes to the soft light peaking through the old white curtains. As his vision clears, he sees tiny dust particles around getting carried by the gentle breeze from the slightly opened window. He makes a move to get up, only to feel an odd dusty feeling beneath him.

He freezes at the sight of cocoon-like webs sticking to his skin and cobwebs formed around the bed. 

_ “What the hell…” _

  
  
  
  
  


“Hibernation healing,” Kuroo states as he stands by the doorway, hands in his pockets. “It’s one of the adjustments I made in the serum.”

Yamaguchi feels the back of his head with his hand, right above his nape. There’s a patch of short growing hair where his semi long locks were. 

“I wasn’t expecting the cocoon web but it did the job,” he adds, his voice hoarse from what looked to be exhaustion. Tadashi took a good look at him then to Kenma, sitting beside him with his eyes narrowed down; the same exhausted expression and something more.

“Your suit picked up your dropping vitals and sent me an alert,” Kenma says, still not looking back at Tadashi. “When we got to you, you were losing blood pretty fast. We had to do something,”

He lifts his head and finally looks back at Tadashi who’s still covered in cobwebs, sitting on the bed. That’s when the younger recognizes that expression of guilt, “We’re sorry we injected you with the serum without asking,”

Yamaguchi blinks at him a few times but his expression softens immediately, “Thank you,” he looks back to see Kuroo’s same guilt-stricken expression and sends him the same grateful smile he sent Kenma, “For saving me,”

  
  
  
  


“You can test everything on your way back,” Kuroo pats him on his shoulder as Tadashi opens the window and prepares to put his mask on.

“Yamaguchi,” he stops to look back at Kenma. There’s still some remaining guilt in his expression no matter how many times Tadashi has reassured him that what they did was for the best. Also, it’s not as if Yamaguchi didn’t want the serum. “You better tell me any odd sensations or changes that happen to your body. No matter how irrelevant you think it is, I need to know. Got it?”

“Got it,” Tadashi smiles at him before pulling down his mask and jumping off the window to swing towards the next building.

  
  
  
  


Tadashi feels as if he had the best sleep in his life and is ready to take on whatever the day throws at him. According to Kuroo, his hibernation healing basically set all of his strength and stamina back to a hundred percent. It’s like a full on recharge and it’s exhilarating to feel this strong again. He lets out a chuckle as he swings his way between buildings and trees, just giddy at this nostalgic feeling of freedom - no need to worry about wasting energy, bumping into a pole due to lack of balance. 

_ Ah, it’s this feeling - to be free is to be strong. _

He’s never fully understood that until now.  _ So it’s this. I like this. _

There’s a sudden ringing in his ear as he lands on top of a 3-storey building. To his right, a child crying can be heard. As he looks for the source, his eyes zeroes in on a child at least one block away from where he stands. The sudden pan of his vision made him a little dizzy but  _ holy shit that is cool. _

He continues to swing his way back and observes how far he could hear and see things:

To his left, there’s a man who’s crossing the street talking on his phone. A few meters away, there’s a group of middle schoolers laughing about and--

He stretches his web down and lands on the grassy plain as a murder of crows flew above.  _ He sensed them _ . His spider senses are back.

  
  
  
  
  


As he gets closer to his house, he catches a glimpse of what seemed to be a number of fire trucks surrounding a familiar area. He shoots his webs towards the direction and as he swings, his ears pick up a conversation a few feet below.

_ “--could cause that much damage? Just look at the mart, it’s been reduced to ashes!” _

_ “I know! It’s a good thing people got out just in time. But oh, poor Shimada-kun--” _

Shimada-san!? 

He stops at the edge of a rooftop right in front of the mart. 

_ No way… _

Half of the establishment is gone. Not burned down but  _ gone _ . The entrance is the only side of the building that’s left standing and yet it’s been stained black from the fire. The view makes Tadashi’s stomach turn, his flesh goes hot and there’s a sudden urge to punch something - the air, his own gut - just  _ anything _ . 

_ Why didn’t I heal faster!? I could’ve been here sooner! I could’ve helped here--I should’ve helped here! This is my home-- _

His ears start ringing and he picks up a conversation from two firemen walking amongst the ashes of what’s left inside the mart. 

_ “--get any info from the store owner?” _

_ “Nothing. He’s done a pretty good job in maintaining this place. No signs of gas leaks whatsoever,” _

_ “Well, I don’t think a gas leak could cause an explosion from the middle of the store and just take down one side of it,” _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Tadashi can feel his mother’s tears even through the phone as she tells him how worried she was for the nth time in the span of their half an hour conversation. Well, he can’t really blame her. Seeing the news of the mart where your son is  _ supposedly  _ doing a part time job in just got burned down will surely throw any mother into a state of panic.

“Mom, I’m fine,” he chuckles, hoping she’d understand by now since that’s probably the 5th time he said that. “I told you, we had practice until late last night so I wasn’t at the mart,”

Thank the heavens his mom isn’t as perceptive as Kei, otherwise his casual throwing of lies wouldn’t work. 

_ Kei. _

When his mom finally calmed down and had to get back to work (good thing she was out of town for 2 weeks otherwise Tadashi would have to think of a better cover up), he drops the call and sees a text from Tsukishima. 

He hasn’t thought of a well-planned excuse to tell the blonde in case he asks (he’ll definitely ask, there’s no way he won’t). If he tells him some lousy reason, Kei’s gonna see right through him. Should he just come clean at this point?

_ No. _

If he tells him he’s Spiderman, what if he asks where he was last night?

_ Sorry, I got hit in the head and went unconscious. Had to get my ass saved by someone else? _

He sounds so useless as a hero. Besides, didn’t Kei use to call Spiderman lame? He’ll just prove his point if he tells him that. 

He sighs in frustration and ruffles his hair with one hand as the other opens the text on his phone.

**Tsukki:** _hey can i come over?_

Yamaguchi blinks at the message.  _ Well, that surely wasn’t what I was expecting.  _

Maybe he was overthinking this? Maybe Kei didn’t hear about what happened in the mart. No, that’s impossible. His mom who’s miles away knew about the news. It’s a pretty big incident considering almost nothing happens in Miyagi. There’s no way Tsukishima doesn’t know. But why isn’t he asking?

Wait wait wait. This should be a good thing? If he isn’t asking then there’s no need to think up an excuse, right? He stops and considers this, his hand unconsciously going down towards his nape and feels that patch of lost locks of hair.  _ I gotta do something about this before I get back to school. _

**Yamaguchi:** _sorry tsukki, im a little tired today_

He sees Kei read the message as soon as he sent it. A few seconds pass and Kei hasn’t replied still, which shouldn’t really mean anything but it makes Tadashi sweat out of nervousness. Did he say that too harshly? Kei wouldn’t think he doesn’t want to see him, right? Wait, it’s a very Tsukishima Kei thing to think that though.  _ Oh sh-- _

As soon as he was about type in something to lighten whatever he sent earlier, Kei starts typing on his end and a few seconds pass his reply goes:

**Tsukki:** _ maybe my presence can help aid your exhaustion? _

… what?

**Tsukki:** _im kidding_

**Tsukki:** _but srsly im here if you need anything_

**Tsukki:** _rest up. I’ll see you on Monday_

Tadashi stares at the messages and just chuckles then it bubbles to tiny giggles until he just doubles over in laughter. He ends up lying on his bed and sends Kei a GIF of Boo from Monsters Inc. falling asleep. Another chuckles leaves his lips until his phone rings.

_ Kenma-san calling… _

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAA THANK YOU ALL FOR STILL READING THIS!!! honestly I wasn't expecting much interaction for this fic since it's been too long since the last update. I initially wanted to finish this before posting the chapters but that style never really worked for me. If I went with that, it might take years for me to actually finish lol
> 
> thank you so much for being so patient with me and with this fic, it means so much to me. I've actually stopped writing fics somewhere along 2018 but when I got into Haikyuu and tskym, this idea just clawed it's way out of my rotting brain. This has been my motivation to finish this fic as I owe tskym my motivation to write again. 
> 
> I don't know how to thank you all enough but I hope you all stay safe and continue to have good days ahead!!!! ♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡


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